Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Those pesky bootleggers strike again


From darkhorizons, Just four days prior to its release, a near DVD quality work print copy of Rob Zombie's remake of the classic John Carpenter's "Halloween" has leaked onto torrenting sites.

This is far from the first example of this happening, notably earlier this Summer a similar DVD quality work print of another horror film - "Hostel: Part II" - managed to make its way online pre-release.

Whilst director Eli Roth was more than happy to blame that film's only moderate financial takings on pirates, it was never shown to have notably effected that film's box-office at all. The same goes for Michael Moore's documentary "Sicko" which suffered a similar fates.

This leak is more interesting in that it's the film's 'work print,' the version shown to test audiences back in June which was panned and lead to a rushed week of reshooting to change the ending and "beef up" the gore quotient (allegedly six more deaths were added in).

Not only does it imply somebody in the production process leaked it (rather than exhibitors or audience members with cameras), but also gives insight into the test screening process as to what about the film has been changed.

Right off the bat for example, the 'sample clip' being offered with the torrent shows off a disgustingly brutal gang rape by guards on a female prisoner in front of Michael. It's a scene that is non-existent in the final film in theatres, replaced by a thankfully tamer 'escape scene'.

1 comment:

Octopunk said...

So the directive was to beef up the gore, but beef down the gang rape? Man, making a movie is complicated.

Beef down?

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